Conveyors with an extendable lower portion are known for a variety of uses, notably for extending under hopper bottom bins and trailers to receive granular material such as grain, fertilizer, and the like.
Swing conveyors are well known where a tractor is hitched to the bottom end of the main conveyor to power the apparatus, and a bottom feed conveyor section is pivotally attached at the discharge thereof to the intake of the main conveyor adjacent to the tractor. The feed conveyor swings horizontally for setting the operating position and is then is pivoted alongside the main conveyor and hoisted into the transport position with a winch, lifting the auger extension along the side of the main auger or conveyor. Maneuvering the intake of the feed conveyor to receive material from a hopper bin or trailer is problematic because of the orientation of the tractor, main conveyor, and feed conveyor. Various other conveyor configurations have been developed to facilitate receiving material from such hoppered containers.
For example U.S. Pat. No. 7,267,519 to Cresswell provides a feed conveyor that folds up about a horizontal axis onto the bottom end of the main conveyor. The Cresswell conveyor apparatus is mounted to an air cart of a modern air seeder. U.S. Pat. No. 3,154,189 to O'Hanlon shows a conveyor apparatus that is mounted on wheels and has a lower feed conveyor portion attached to the bottom end of the main conveyor that similarly folds up onto the main conveyor.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,479,911 to Friesen shows a conveyor apparatus where the lower feed conveyor is mounted to the bottom of the main conveyor on side rails such that the feed conveyor slides from a transport position resting on the lower portion of the main conveyor, outward to an operating position extending outward in alignment with the main conveyor.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,068,103 to Werner shows a feed conveyor attached to the bottom end of a main conveyor mounted on wheels. The feed conveyor pivots from a stored transport position supported beside the lower end of the main conveyor, outward to the side and then forward into alignment with the main conveyor.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,805,229 to Dekoning has no separate feed conveyor but rather the lower intake end of the conveyor telescopes in and out to facilitate receiving granular material from hopper bins, trailers and the like.
These conveyor apparatuses are more readily extendable under hoppered discharge ports however precise alignment of the feed conveyor intake with the discharge is required as lateral movement of the intake of the feed conveyor with respect to the main conveyor is not provided.